A police constable allegedly pointed his rifle at the former union minister at Chhindwara airstrip. He was later suspended.

A Madhya Pradesh police constable who pointed a gun at former Union minister Kamal Nath last Friday is being put under psychiatric evaluation, sources in the state police said.

Initial investigations show that the constable, Ramesh Pawar, who was suspended and booked for attempt to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, did not appear to be in good mental health and may not have had any intention of attacking the Congress leader.

Investigating officer and Chhindwara’s deputy inspector general of police, GK Pathak, said the constable’s conduct “was not up to the mark”, declining to say more about the case.

Sources said the area superintendant of police has been asked to get Pawar medically examined and search his residence for clues about any possible malafide intention.

The local leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the Congress of trying to gain publicity from the incident. The BJP’s Betul chief, Jitendra Kapoor, claimed that Pawar’s brother-in-law was president of a local Congress unit Rajesh Barange, who said that this was true.

“No one trained their gun at anyone,” Kapoor said. “The alleged incident at the airstrip never took place and according to senior police officers the constable was merely shifting his gun from one shoulder to another.”

The Betul Congress has denied Kapoor’s charges, saying there was threat to Nath.

Additional superintendent of police Neeraj Soni confirmed that the former Union minister had not lodged any complaint but the police had registered a case in which some local Congress leaders are witnesses.